Don't Starve: Ruins of Reality
by Phoenixflame of Thunderclan
Summary: Awakening in a strange world, four very different characters must survive the many challenges that they face. Willow and Wendy, Woodie and Wolfgang: two different groups determined to defeat all in their way so that they may reach the heart of Maxwell's domain and escape, destroying his reign over the realm of shadows. First, however, they must survive. Tip? Don't Starve.
1. Chapter 1 Bane of Our Existence

_**Willow's POV**_

"Oh, look Bernie...some new friends we can play with." She slowly walked towards the small pig village, amusement fluttering in her heart as she watched them go along their business. She smiled as they avoided her, veering away from her as she approached. Her large, eerily glowing white eyes watching every movement the pigs made, every glance towards her with their black, beady eyes. She caressed her lighter between her fingers, feeling the small metallic handle and pressing the worn-out teddy bear from her life before this world close to her as a spark flew from her lighter, creating a small, flickering flame. Willow watched it with delight as it wavered and bobbed about, unwilling to die just yet. Her coal-black pigtails bobbed up and down as she continued towards the heart of the village, examining every wooden board of the pig houses as she pictured them burning to the ground. She held up her lighter, fighting back the soon-coming darkness to fall upon the lands with the setting sun. Day 1 was beginning to come to an end, dusk had already come, and the pigs began to flee to their homes, believing to be safe from any harm.

The next thing she knew, Willow was standing a distance away from the small cluster of homes, watching with an expressionless face as each of the well-constructed homes were transformed to a small pile of ashes, their residents fleeing from the fire and escaping their fiery doom, their voices laced with fear. Had she done this? She looked down at her lighter, feeling the warmth of the metallic surface and examining the flower painted on it. She looked back up to the burning village, most of the flames dying down to reveal charred wooden frames. She was torn from her thoughts as she heard an angry cry calling out. Turning her head, she saw the few living pig people haring after her, anger blazing in their fierce gazes.

"YOU GO SMASH!" one cried.

"I KILL NOW!" cried another. Her eyes widened in fear as she turned to run away from her pursuers, desperate to escape their wrath. She tried to evade the attack of one as it cut her off, but she wasn't quick enough as it slashed its claws at her, raking the side of her head as she continued to try to run. Wincing in the searing pain along her cheek, she continued to run for her life, following the cobble path that led away from the pig village and again out into the wilderness.

Night fell at last, and she was soon engulfed in darkness. Something growled at her from the darkness, and she began to feel footsteps. She pulled out her lighter again and lit it just as the mysterious being began to creep up on her. She felt the hot breath of the creature just as the tiny flame pushed the veil of darkness away from her, creating a small, insignificant dot of light in the endless darkness. Within the very moment her lighter's flame was lit, the creature seemed to have disappeared. She let out a sigh of relief, staying where she was. The angry cries of the pigs had faded away just as night fell, and she was alone again at last with Bernie as her only company. She continued along the road, following the hard cobblestone, not knowing where she was heading. _This is my curse,_ she thought. _How am I to bear it? Why must I do this?_

She clutched her stomach as a sharp pain shot through it. It felt hollow. As it growled fiercely she realized that she was beginning to starve. _You'd better find something to eat before night comes!_ Maxwell's departing words echoed through Willow's mind. Maxwell...the tall, sinister man, holding out a cigar as he spoke to her. Anger flared in her belly, quickly replaced again with an aching pain of starvation.

As the morning came again, she had put a distance between her and the pig village. She had found herself in a deciduous forest, surrounded by the leafless trees and the catcoons clawing at their thick, white bark. On the other side of the forest she could just make out a group of shapes. She smelled dung. _What is that?_ She walked closer to investigate, picking whatever berries she could find along the way, the same technique she had been following to stave off hunger. She continued to follow the pungent odor until she came across a field of yellow grass. Tufts of tall grass poked through the field in many locations, and the shapes turned out to be a herd of large, strange creatures. They were large animals with two large horns protruding through the thick fur on their ape-like heads. They walked heavily on four massive paws. _Beefalo?_ she thought as she got closer to examine the peculiar animals. Her nose wrinkled at their stench. "What a disgusting, hairy beast," she muttered under her breath, turning away in disgust.

She continued along the wide, yellow field and began to notice more and more small holes in the ground, some with strange rabbits with horns coming out of them, some seemingly empty. Many more of the creatures roamed aimlessly about, sniffing at the ground. She stopped beside one of the holes. _Stupid rabbit,_ she thought, _come out so I can eat you!_ Her hunger was becoming more and more fierce the longer she ran about. Her cheek continued to burn as she turned away, looking over a group of rabbits hopping along, completely unaware of her presence. She narrowed her eyes, a plan igniting in her mind.

She had an idea.

She slowly crept up on one of the furry creatures, waiting for to catch it off guard so that she could get the jump on it and make it a quick, easy kill, as well as her lunch. _He looks tasty,_ she thought. She quickly ran up to the creature, chasing after it and nearly caught it, if it hadn't ran away quickly. She watched as it ran away from her. She scowled. "Come back here so I can eat you!" she called angrily. She chased after it, matching its speed and almost seemed to be gaining on it. When she was finally close enough, she reached out, and tried to attack. _Now!_ She punched the creature, but it only recoiled and began to run again. She chased after it again, watching as it seemed to turn while she followed it. Only when the small creature ran back into its hole she realized that she had been tricked by the rabbit so that she chased it back to its own den. "Stupid rabbit!" she cried out angrily. She looked up to the sky, seeing the sun begin to set once more. _Dang it!_ She turned around again towards the large herd of beefalo, watching disdainfully as they continued to roam about, paying her no mind. _How easily they'd burn..._ she thought. She pulled Bernie out from her pocket, looking over his dirt-covered face as she brushed his button eye.

She pulled out her lighter once more to keep the night away from her, fearing that the creature from the night before would come after her again. She continued along her way back to the birch nut forest. She passed a sleeping catcoon, deciding not to attack it as her cheek felt hot once again with the pig's scratch. "Stupid catcoon," she muttered beneath her breath, "looking so comfortable..." She sighed again, continuing to head along her way as she watched dawn begin to break in the distance, turning the dark, invisible night sky to a pale blue.

When the sun at last dawned, she put away her lighter again and began to devise a new plan to catch her meal. She looked over to see a berry bush, filled with large, ripe, juicy berries, ready to be picked. Willow walked over to start picking the red berries, sticking them into her mouth as she picked them. However, half-way through clearing the bush of them, a beak poked out through the leaves, and plucked a berry straight from between her berry juice-stained fingers. Out of frustration of her berry being stolen, she called out angrily. "Hey!" Suddenly, a large, fat bird burst from the berry bush and hared away quickly. She stared in confusion at the gobbler as it ran to another bush, plucking all of the berries from it, and running away again. "You stupid bird!" she called after it as she began another chase. She began to gain ground as it stopped at another berry-filled bush to eat, but when she neared it, the gobbler ran away from the bush, leaving half of the berries still among the green leaves. Grumbling, she walked up to the bush, looking at the small berries still left.

She plucked one off of the plant, picturing the bird burning in a large fire, and just before she ate the berry, she came up with another idea. She looked over to where the gobbler was, looking at her with thoughtless eyes as it flapped its wings uselessly. She slowly pulled the berry away from her mouth, watching as the gobbler's gaze followed the fruit. She smiled wickedly as she started to tear away the rest of the berries from the bush until she had a small handful. She walked up to the gobbler, stopping just far enough that it didn't run off again. Setting the berries on the ground, she didn't tear her eyes away from the bird. She slowly backed away, still watching the bird carefully. It looked away from her to stare at the berries on the ground, eying them hungrily. It began to walk towards it, completely unaware of Willow walking up to it to meet it at the clump of berries on the ground. Before it could begin to take a berry from the pile, she punched it as hard as she could, causing it to recoil and panic. It ran a little ways before stopping, and turning again at the berry. _Stupid bird,_ she thought again.

She repeated this process a few times before the bird collapsed at last. Willow triumphantly eyed the meat on the ground, bending over to tear at the white flesh hungrily. But as she ate the first drumstick, she felt strange. Was it because it was raw? She smiled as yet another idea penetrated her thoughts. _Time to make a fire?_


	2. Chapter 2 Problems of Wolfgang

_**Wolfgang's POV**_

"I punch you!" he cried out at he swung a fist at a butterfly, lightly flitting about before landing on a flower. As Wolfgang's fist landed heavily on the delicate butterfly, he took the two butterfly wings from it and walked away, looking for something more filling to eat. As he munched on the wings, he held up an axe, looking up at a large evergreen tree. He chopped it down, hitting the strong bark with stronger blows from his sharp axe, cutting down the tree considerably quickly. "Wolfgang clever, ha!" he exclaimed as he picked up the logs. He looked around the forest, looking for something to eat. He followed along the dark grass as he came along to a rocky biome. He looked around, looking at all the rocks strewn about on the dark terrain. He walked about, picking them up one by one, and noticed a moleworm chomping on a piece of flint. "Ah, I find good meat now!" Catching the creature off-guard, he killed it swiftly with a swing of his axe. "Ha!" he exclaimed happily as he took the morsel. "Wolfgang smart! I find food without much problem!" He looked at the raw meat. "Now Wolfgang must cook..." he continued along the rocky biome until he came along a cluster of large rocks, boulders, in fact.

Using a couple twigs and pieces of flint, Wolfgang quickly made a pickaxe before holding it high into the air proudly. "Pick!" he exclaimed. He ran up to the boulder and began mining it, watching as the large boulder began to crumble into several smaller rocks. "Ha! I make big rock...into smaller rocks!" He gathered the remains of the boulder and carried them back to the coniferous forest, where he made a fire pit. He looked up to the darkening sky as dusk began to arrive. "Scary time coming soon, must make fire big!" he said to himself as he flung a log onto the fire. "Now," he said, holding up his raw morsel, "I cook you." He held it over the fire, burning his hand in the process. He recoiled quickly, dropping the meat into the fire. "No! Wolfgang's meat!" He quickly flung his hand into the hot flames, taking the piece of meat out of the fire with his hands...also on fire. "Ah! This hot!" Wolfgang dropped the burnt morsel to the ground as he waved his hands quickly, trying to extinguish the fire that engulfed his hands. After a little bit, with the flames gone and pain searing his hands, Wolfgang picked up the now tepid morsel. Looking it over thoroughly, he promptly stuck it into his mouth and winced as he crunched down on the burnt meat.

It wasn't long before night came and gone, bringing a new day's sun down onto the land. Wolfgang looked around, now willing to leave his fire, and felt as his belly growled. Warily, he started back towards the rocky biome to where he had mined the boulder. He continued past it and began to explore the flat, grey, sun-parched ground. Something caught his eye, and he quickly turned around and ran over to where a nugget of gold lied on the ground. "Ooh..." he said as he bent down to take it from the ground. "It pretty, like Wolfgang's muscles." He looked closer at it, seeing himself in the reflection of the shining chunk of gold. "Oh ho!" he exclaimed. "Just as pretty as Wolfgang!" he stuck it in his pocket, returning to his search of food.

He continued along his way until he came along a small straw nest, seemingly abandoned with nothing inside of it sans a single, large, bright-blue egg with white spots. "Now _that_ a breakfast fit for Wolfgang!" he exclaimed as he began running towards the egg. He stopped suddenly, not too far from the nest, as a squawking sound came from behind him. "What that sound?" he asked, turning around. He stared straight forward, seeing nothing but two thin legs with large bird feet at the bottom of them. He looked up...and up...and up some more before he saw the bird's circular head, its eye glaring at him fiercely and beak hanging open. Wolfgang swallowed hard as the bird kicked at the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air before it began to charge at him, stopping in front of him and pecking at him. Wolfgang jumped out of the way quickly, just in time for the bird to peck the ground with a hollow _thunk_. He took out his axe once more, and held it high as the bird came chasing after him again. He swung the weapon, landing squarely on the tallbird's foot. It cried out in pain, and pecked him in the shoulder. "Ow! Why you do that? I only try to eat meat packet!" Its eye glowed red as it began to peck again.

Wolfgang ran away from the bird as it continued to chase after him, squawking angrily as he began to distance himself away from the creature. When he was finally out of the tallbird's range of aggression, Wolfgang bent over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily and out of breath. "Okay..." he said to himself quietly. "That not so good idea." He took out his axe, looking at his flimsy tool. "And this...not so good weapon. Need spear. Spear strong and mighty! Like Wolfgang!" he cried out, flexing his arms so that his muscles bulged. "But first, I need science thing."

As he returned to his fire pit, Wolfgang pulled out his axe to begin chopping down some more trees. "Ha ha! Wolfgang show mightiness! Will show tree!" He quickly began to chop the tree, the axe breaking after the first swing. Wolfgang recoiled as the tool broke in his hands to an irreparable state on the ground. "Stupid axe," he said. "Not mighty, like WOLFGANG!" He quickly began to make another axe before realizing that he needed twigs. Irritated, Wolfgang headed away from his camp in search of saplings to deprive of their twigs. "Wolfgang get twigs. Wolfgang make axe! Wolfgang get logs! Wolfgang get science-thingy!" he cried out as he headed deeper into the forest.

 _ **A/N:**_

 **Phoenixflame: Sooooooooooo... this is a thing. Note taken: Wolfgang is a dunce and fun to write with.**

 **PowerKeeper:**

 **…**

 **…**

 **…**

 **WOLFGANG LIKE CHAPTER**

 **Phoenixflame: Oh yeah, and Pow's here too. Yep, doubt you thought about it or cared but we are doing a really cool collab story!**

 **PowerKeeper: WOLFGANG MAKE STORY BIGGER! LIKE WOLFGANG'S MUSCLES!**

 **Phoenixflame: … um... Pow... the chapter's over... and... you're not Wolfgang... as far as I know...**

 **PowerKeeper: WOLFGANG TAKE OFFENSE! WOLFGANG IS BEST MAN!**

 **Phoenixflame: At who's wedding...? ;P**

 **PowerKeeper: WOLFGANG'S**

 **Phoenixflame: Aw, that's cute... who's the bride?**

 **PowerKeeper: WOLFGANG**

 **Phoenixflame: …... Please make this a fanfiction... oh my gosh, what have I done...?**

 **PowerKeeper: THIS CHAPTER GOOD! WRITTEN BY WOLFGANG! FOR WOLFGANG! IS HOT! LIKE WOLFGANG!**

 **Phoenixflame: Um... Wolfgang, bud, WX called, he wants his caps back**

 **PowerKeeper: PATHETIC ROBIT TOO PUNY FOR MIGHTY CAPS! ONLY WOLFGANG!**

 **Phoenixflame: … … … why me? … … … I... am... so... OUT OF HERE!**

 **PowerKeeper: nuuu wait up**

 **Phoenixflame: No thanks, I'm going into the caves... AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND ME AND MY AMAZING ...'S!**

 **PowerKeeper: Finally, now we can end the Authors' Note**

 **Phoenixflame: OOH LEMME DO THE HONORS BYE PEEPS BYE! *waves hands wildly***

 **PowerKeeper: Shut up Phoenix I'm trying to wrap things up**

 **Phoenixflame: OKAY I'LL BRING THE BOWS AND WRSDFXGJKSEJR;GKRJSE;GHJRS**

 **PowerKeeper: ...bye**


	3. Chapter 3 A Girl With a Flower in Hand

_**Wendy's POV**_

 __Slowly, the girl cupped the small pink flower in her hands. "Abigail, come out and play," she whispered. The flower did not respond, and she covered it from her vision with her hands. "I can feel her presence growing stronger," she murmured to no one in particular.

She was in a grassland, dotted with trees, flowers, grass, and twigs. She grimaced. She couldn't have been in a nice graveyard or even desert? Something stirred nearby, and her gaze snapped to a beautiful, bright winged butterfly. She stared at it for a minute, watching its jerking movements with disgust. She lay the flower down and, in frustration, lashed out at the insect. A faint crunching sound was heard and it fell, its wings nearly severed from its fragile body. _Good riddance,_ she thought, kicking it and picking up her sister's flower once more.

Slowly, she made here way through the grassland, frowning at every flower she saw. Why must they be so _pretty_? _And so annoying_. Despite her anger, Wendy still made sure to pick out every detail, every pine needle and every patch up freshly churned leaves or upturned dirt. Anything to point her to something to eat. She wasn't that hungry, but her hands itched to do something, to get down and dirty and kill whatever she needed to to survive.

However, death isn't too bad.

Slowly, deep in her thoughts, she found that the green grass under her feet began to disperse, revealing a warm golden color underneath. _Yuck_. However, even though the color was horrible, she thought she saw a bit of movement, though whatever caused it had a similar color, and it took a few moments for her to pick out the sandy colored rabbit with small, curled horns growing out of its head. _Food_ , she thought, her fingers twitching. Wendy slowly put Abigail's flower in her pocket, making sure it wouldn't get squashed, and hared after the animal. "Suffer, worm!" she hissed. Soon, she realized it was a horrible idea, for the animal in question heard her and let out a squeal of terror, fleeing back to its burrow before she could even blink.

She glared at the hole in the ground, and sighed. "I'm too big to fall down there," she said, remembering the old story of Alice in Wonderland. She pulled out her sister's flower once more, staring at its wilted pink petals. _I never understood why Abigail liked pink so much,_ she thought bitterly. Looking back up across the savanna, she realized that, if she looked hard enough, several of easy-to-kill rabbits were stupidly hopping around, not even looking at their dens. Remembering to keep her hunting cry to herself, she made her way towards the closest one, flinching every time a dead leaf cracked beneath her feet. _Death has made them brittle,_ she reminded herself, trying to watch the ground and her prey at once. The rabbit failed to notice her. _Ha, look at it. It fails to even notice its inevitable fate._ However inevitable she thought it was, however, the creature suddenly stiffed and bolted back to its hole, straight towards its hunter. Eyes widening further, it put on an extra burst of speed and, instead of turning, ran between her legs and made it into its warren.

Before she could set off after anything else, however, all of the rabbits in the area suddenly let out identical screams of fear and fled to their homes. She look up at the sky. "The darkness will be here soon. I must prepare," she announced. She carefully looked around the savanna. It was dotted with clusters of tall, golden grass and the occasional young tree that she could strip of its twigs. With the slightest hint of a smile, she grabbed the nearest bundle of grass and ripped it from the stems. _Kill something... to keep me alive_. She repeated this motion once more, then went to plucking the useful sticks from the tree until it fell. "Is it dead?" she asked herself, picking it up and dropping it again. Soon, the sun began to sink lower, and she sat down on a small boulder and began to fasten the grass and twigs together to form a torch.

"The darkness is impossible to escape," she whispered to herself. "but I can fend it off... for now." Though at the time, she knew it wasn't the darkness that was going to kill her. She wasn't scared of the darkness. Her stomach growled, reminding her of her real problem. She turned back to the grassland. Perhaps she could find berries. Before she got far, she realized that it wasn't just berries she could find, but carrots as well. She bent down to rip one from the ground. It was fairly large, not big enough for a whole meal but enough to take the edge off of her hunger. The sensation of hunger was one thing, but the piercing agony that tore through her stomach as soon as she laid eyes on the vegetable was one that she had never experienced before. She didn't even both to clean the carrot before eating it, sighing in relief as the pain subsided, for now, at least.

She carefully took in the details of the plains once more, realizing that it was becoming harder and harder to see. Squinting, she pulled out the makeshift torch and lit it, creating a tiny speck of light in the sucking darkness. The torch's light wavered, as though wondering whether to go out or not before steadying as it began to feed on the grass. _Even the fire rejects death_.

Night turned to day as quickly as it claimed the latter, just in time for the torch to burn out, blackened and crumbling into ashes. Not too far from where she stood was a cluster of berry bushes, the red fruits on them standing out against the green like drops of blood. She tore a branch of the bush off, picking the berries off one by one. It took all her self-control to not pucker up at the sour taste. _It's better than nothing_. She thought grudgingly. Turning, she pinpointed another red speckled bush and made her way towards it. _I could survive this_. She thought. _However little I want to._


End file.
